NIPSA NEWS

STANDSTILL ASSTRIKE BITES

The newspaper of the leading public sector trade union March/April 2015

MUCH of Northern Ireland was brought to astandstill on Friday, March 13, as thou-sands of NIPSA members joined tens ofthousands of other public sector workersin what NIC-ICTU called “the largest singleday of actions in years”.

Members from several unions, includingNIPSA, UNISON, Unite, INTO and the GMB,took their place at dozens of workplace pick-ets and a series of rallies across Northern Ire-land.

NIC-ICTU-organised rallies were held atBelfast, Londonderry, Newry, Strabane,Omagh, Enniskillen, Coleraine, Magherafelt,Cookstown, Dungannon and Craigavon.

The action – called in protest against Gov-ernment threats to public services and jobs –impacted heavily on education, public trans-port and administration.

NIPSA General Secretary Brian Campfieldwelcomed the massive show of support frompublic service workers and the general publicfor the day’s action.

Speaking after a rally in the centre ofBelfast, he said: “The trade union movementis delighted with the massive response byworkers to the call for strike action.

“The thousands of workers who took part inthe strike and protests have sent a very clearmessage to the Northern Ireland political par-ties and leaders that they will not accept thedecimation of our public services and jobs.

“The next step should be that all the politicalparties with MPs elected to Westminster at the

General Election in May declare that they willrefuse to support any new government whichdoes not call an immediate halt to these un-precedented and damaging cuts to publicservices.

“Local MPs may well have a critical role inthe event of a hung parliament and they mustensure that they use whatever power theyhave to force a reversal of the UK Govern-ment’s unnecessary austerity programme.”

He added: “This is the least they can do inthe interests of the people of Northern Ire-land.”

Mr Campfield also called for the StormontHouse Agreement to be revisted and the£700m of borrowed funds – earmarked for thevoluntary redundancy scheme – be reinvestedin public services and for plans to cut localcorporation tax to be scrapped.

He said: “The UK Government must be toldthat Northern Ireland cannot afford these cutsand that the NI Executive must do their utmostto force the Westminster Government to pro-vide an adequate public expenditure settle-ment for Northern Ireland.”

Thousands of school children were affectedby the strike, particularly in the Catholic pri-mary sector as members of the Irish NationalTeachers' Organisation, which representsmainly Catholic teachers were out on strike.

In the controlled sector, most primaryschools opened but some closed early be-cause non-teaching staff such as canteenworkers and supervisors are on strike. Some

schools told pupils to bring packed lunches in-stead.

The strike caused disruption across manyareas.

Health trusts said 1,900 out-patient appoint-ments and 200 in-patient and day case proce-dures had been postponed.

An estimated 60% of accident and emer-gency crews and 80% of rapid response para-medics had planned to strike, but a majorincident declared by the Ambulance Service"to maintain a safe level of cover" on the nightbefore the strike meant staff were requiredturn up for duty.

Public transport company Translink did notoperate any scheduled bus or train services,except the Ulsterbus express Belfast to Dublinservice at 23:00 GMT.

Unions have underlined their discontent –indeed anger – since the brokering of the Stor-mont House Agreement and the budget thatfollowed it.

One source told NIPSA News: “StormontHouse was undoubtedly a bad deal – it is evi-dent it will be bad for public services and badfor our members. What’s more it is ideologi-cally pitched to the right.

“There is no doubt slashing 20,000 postsfrom across the public sector will impact onservices as well as piling yet more pressureon hard-pressed public service workers whodon’t take up the offer of voluntary redun-dancy.”

Four pages of strike pictures - see pages 10-14

Tel: 02890661831 www.nipsa.org.uk

Picture: Kevin Cooper, Photoline

Page 2 NEWS

FRIDAY, March 13 marked anotherhistoric day in the history of NIPSAwhen thousands of our members,joined workers from a number ofother trade unions – including GMB,Unison, Unite and INTO –in sendinga strong, clear signal to politiciansthat the cuts to public service jobsand public services affecting all insociety will be resisted.

The answer is not to cut furtherand deeper but to ensure that ourpolitical representatives say toWestminster that they will not ac-cept the cuts being imposed as a re-sult of the Barnett Formula.

The General Election is just a few,short weeks away and this will giveall NIPSA members – as well as alltrade union members – the opportu-nity to make our politicians stand up

against the austerity measuresbeing imposed on hard-workingfamilies and those who are out ofwork.

Over the coming weeks many ofour elected representatives will beknocking on our doors asking forvotes. We must ensure our mem-bers put those questions that needanswering to these prospective can-didates to ensure that, if thenelected, they will not go on and votefor the imposition of cuts on theirelectorate with the excuse that‘nothing else could be done’.

It is important members have thecorrect information before knockson the door happen. We heardChancellor George Osborne state inhis March 18 budget speech thatfamilies will be £900 a year better off

compared with 2010. This figurehas been challenged both by NIPSAand by the Institute of Fiscal Studies(IFS). It is hard to find any hardworking families across the publicsector that have an extra £900 ayear to spend. In fact, I would chal-lenge anyone to find such a person.

Meanwhile, NIPSA is progressinga number of legal cases and othersignificant cases on behalf of ourmembers, including issues involv-ing holiday pay, working time andthe long-running Stormont Guardscase. Some of the details of theseare in this edition of NIPSA Newswhile the Stormont Guards case willfeature heavily in next month’sissue.

Alison MillarDeputy General Secretary

Another historic day ofprotest against the cuts

EDITORIAL

2015 NIPSA CONFERENCE

NIPSA members took part ina protest outside the Linen-hall Street offices of theHealth & Social Care Boardand Public Health Agency inBelfast on Tuesday, March10.

They were highlightingthe massive impact budgetcuts of between 3% and15% will have on a range ofHealth Arms Length Bodies.These include the Health &Social Care Board; PublicHealth Agency; BusinessServices Organisation; NIMedical & Dental TrainingAgency; RQIA; NIPEC andNI Social Care Council.

Deputy General SecretaryAlison Millar told NIPSANews: “It is frightening tothink of the impact this willhave. All of these organisa-tions are threatened withcuts of between 3% and15%.

“It goes without sayingthat these organisations are

unlikely to be able to makecuts of this magnitude with-out impacting on the serv-ices they provide as well asimpacting on jobs.”

She said NIPSA had or-ganised the protest in ad-vance of the March 13 strikeboth to underline the threatto jobs and services as wellas to express concern thatno detailed information hadbeen provided to NIPSAmembers on the “real impli-cations of these proposedcuts”.

NIPSA Official TommyBrownlee added: “Ourmembers are worried andconcerned about the impactthese announcements mayhave on their jobs, job secu-

rity and the security of theirfamilies.

“NIPSA has met and willcontinue to meet the seniormanagement teams in eachof the affected bodies tofully understand the magni-tude of these cuts.”

And he warned that theHealth Minister was “play-ing fast and loose with ourmembers’ livelihoods”.

“Our members today areexpressing their anger andconcern at these cuts.NIPSA believes these organ-isations form part of thebuilding blocks of theHealth Service and to un-dermine these functionscause untold harm to pa-tient care.”

NIPSA NEWSNIPSA Harkin House, 54 Wellington Park,

Belfast BT9 6DP, Tel: 028 90661831 Fax 028 90665847or email: alison.millar@nipsa.org.uk Editorial contact details: Bob Miller

email: bob.miller@nipsa.org.ukCorrespondence should be sent to the above address.

Unless otherwise stated, the views contained inNIPSA Reports do not necessarily reflect the

policy of trade union NIPSA.

THE 2015 NIPSA Conferences will beheld in Derry between May 26 and 29.The main NIPSA Conference will runfrom May 27 to 29 in the City’s Millen-nium Forum, with the Civil ServiceGroup Conference in the City Hotel andthe Public Officers’ Group Conference inthe Tower (Maldron) Hotel, both onTuesday, May 26.Important Conference dates are as fol-lows:l Thursday, April 23 (5.30pm) – dead-line for delegate nominations seekingConference accommodation;l Tuesday, May 26 – Civil Service andPublic Officers’ Group Conferences; and l Wednesday May 27 to Friday 29 –main NIPSA Conference.Conference papers were issued fromNIPSA Headquarters in late February sothat the various returns can be made bythe deadlines above.

NIPSA stageprotest overcuts to healthsector bodies

Page 3NEWS

A FORMER civil servant has, afterreceiving help from the Law Centre,won her appeal against a decisionto reduce her Incapacity Benefit.

The case centred on a claim by theSocial Security Agency that the CivilService Injury Award effectivelyequated to a pension and therefore af-fected the former civil servant’s entitle-ment.

The woman had retired due to illhealth in 2003. At the time she wasawarded Incapacity Benefit, she de-clared receipt of her Civil Service pen-sion as it is taken into account interms of entitlement to Incapacity Ben-efit.

Where pension income is more than£85 per week, Incapacity Benefit is re-duced by an amount equal to 50% ofthe excess over £85.

The issue at the heart of the casewas whether the additional and sepa-rate payment that she received underthe Civil Service Injury Award schemewas a pension. The Department of Fi-nance and Personnel, the body re-sponsible for the scheme, providedevidence that payments under thescheme are not pensions but are dis-cretionary and solely attributable toaccident or illness.

An appeal tribunal allowed the ap-peal after the Department missed theappeal deadline, meaning that the de-cision had to be implemented.

The Department later stated that itdisagreed with the decision.

It is understood the former civil ser-vant has since migrated to Employ-ment and Support Allowance (ESA)and the Law Centre now has a parallelappeal running for the ESA.

Law Centre (NI) social security ad-

viser Patricia Carty, pictured, toldNIPSA News: “This issue affects manyformer civil servants. Those affectedneed to lodge appeals and then theappeals will be stayed pending finalresolution of the issue. There is noguarantee of success but there is po-tential for a joint action.”

The Law Centre has contactedNIPSA to do what it can to encourageany of its former members who findthemselves in similar circumstances tocontact the Law Centre advice line on028 9024 4401 or 028 7126 2433,Monday to Friday 9.30am to 1pm.

The relevant legislation is Section30D (5) and (6) of the Social SecurityContributions and Benefits Act 1992and Section 1 of the PensionsSchemes (NI) Act 1993.

Appeal success inCivil Service Injury Award case

NIPSA has slammed the UK Govern-ment for the “contempt” it has shownpublic services and public servants.Paddy Mackel, the union’s EducationOfficial, made the comments in ad-vance of the March 13 public sectorstrike.

He told NIPSA News: “Four years ofTory cuts – which have slashed£1.5bn from the Assembly’s budget –clearly demonstrate the contempt theUK Government has for public serv-ices in general and public servants inparticular.

“The Stormont budget announced inJanuary on foot of further cuts to theblock grant quite simply is not goodenough. Local Ministers have to take

responsibility for agreeing cuts whichwill devastate public services.”

In particular he flagged up cuts of£100m in the education sector locally,which will mean the loss of 500 teach-ing and 1,000 support staff jobs.

He said: “This will directly impacton the education of children andyoung people. These children will notget a second chance. They deservebetter from their local politicians. Thecuts should be reversed immediately.”

Mr Mackel added: “It is importantthat all progressives work together todevelop alternatives to the currentausterity agenda. Thousands of jobcuts and tax breaks for big businessare not the answer.”

Workers endorseWGTU deal

INDUSTRIAL action by around 1,000 membersof NIPSA, UNITE and GMB employed by NIWater remains in ‘suspension’ following aconsultation exercise which rubber-stampedthe decision by the unions’ reps to suspendthe action on January 21 a deal on pay andpensions was brokered.

The dispute was in response to attempts bythe Government-owned company to introduceradical changes to the pension scheme. Afteryears of pay freezes and reorganisation, thedecision to end the final salary pensionscheme and significantly increase contribu-tions was met with anger which eventuallycame to a head with a huge vote for industrialaction in November.

There then followed a withdrawal of good-will and cooperation with the Major IncidentPlan. This meant out-of-hours cover was with-drawn with workers strictly adhering to theletter of their contracts.

For several weeks from late December thisled to on-and-off disruption for thousands ofusers until negotiations between the WaterGroup of Trade Unions and NI Water manage-ment led to the company tabling pay and pen-sion proposals which will see all industrialand non-industrial staff receiving pay in-creases in excess of the Northern Ireland Ex-ecutive’s 1% ceiling as well as improvedpensions protections and phasing.

The exact nature of the deal has been keptunder wraps while it goes through the usualapproval process in DRD and DFP. However,NIPSA News understands that all union mem-bers received a copy of the deal before votingto endorse the decision to suspend the indus-trial action.

NIPSA Official Ryan McKinney, who is Sec-retary of the Water Group of Trade Unions,told NIPSA News: “Clearly until such times aswe have confirmation that the pay businesscases are approved, we don’t feel that it is ap-propriate to publish details of the final offer.

“Elements in the media, for example, woulduse this information to undermine attempts toresolve the dispute because they have ananti-trade union agenda, as they demon-strated throughout the industrial action.

“They would not want the water workers toget a good deal as they don’t want other work-ers taking inspiration from their action.”

Mr McKinney pointed out that union mem-bers at NI Water had seen the offer and, in thecase of NIPSA members, have given it a “mas-sive endorsement”.

He continued: “Once we are certain the dealhas been approved then all three unions willformally ballot union members. One thing thatis absolutely clear is that industrial action candefend the interests of workers and with moreyears of austerity ahead, the need for workersto seriously consider industrial action willonly increase.

“The example of the water workers is that itneed not be symbolic but can actually deliverreal results.”

Our children are paying for austerity

THE Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute(AFBI) was formed almost nine years agoas an NDPB out of the DARD Scienceservice on April 1, 2006. On that day,staff ceased to be civil servants and fromthen they have faced an uncertain future.

But that uncertainty has been heightenedby swingeing cuts contained in the Stormont2015-16 budget.

At present, AFBI has more than 800 em-ployees based on seven main sites through-out Northern Ireland. Its two main locationsare in Belfast – at Newforge Lane and atStoney Road, near the Stormont Estate.Other AFBI sites are at Hillsborough, Lough-gall, Crossnacreevy, Omagh and Bushmills.

Since 2006, AFBI has continued to befunded by DARD. However, since then therehas been a year-on-year cut to this centralfunding from DARD.

Over those years, AFBI has brought in arange of external incomes to cover theshortfall to its budget. In the last few years,this has helped to offset the continual cutsto the DARD grant.

As an NDPB though, funding has been re-moved for future incremental pay increases,and AFBI has to pay separately extramoney needed to pay for services such asHR Connect, legal services, welfare, etc.

Even before the 2015-16 budget cutswere announced in Stormont, AFBI was fac-ing a major cut to its working budgets for fu-ture years. This included:l A 30% cut to the DARD direct grant by2020.l A loss of external income because of cutsto projects from other Northern Ireland gov-ernmental departments; GB and Republic ofIreland government funding has also beenremoved.l Extra employer payments for NICS pen-sion schemes from 2015 and extra National

Insurance contributions from 2016.Now as a result of the cuts to its 2015-16

budget, DARD has been forced to find a fur-ther £5 million cut on top of the shortfall de-tailed above for this coming year.

Other pressures to the AFBI budget in-clude the impact of inflation and a rundownto pig vaccine royalty incomes from 2016.This translates into a total cut of more than26% to the AFBI budget for 2015-16 com-pared to the previous year.

The AFBI management estimate that theonly way to save that level of money in sucha short period would be to lose up to 275jobs before the end of March 2016. But thatis over 34% of the existing workforce!

And future cuts may mean that a further125 plus staff may have to go before 2017-18.

That creates a situation where a voluntaryexit scheme for AFBI cannot achieve thatlevel of reduction required without goingdown the compulsory route very quickly.

As a result, AFBI staff have expressedgrave concern over the threat to their jobsand the future of AFBI. That level of reduc-tion to funding could result in AFBI being un-able to deliver its statutory and publicfunctions if it is forced to shut down its func-tions and sites.

Staff may have NICS terms and condi-tions but they are unable to transfer backinto the NICS. This means that there is noway of moving surplus staff into the NICS.

AFBI is our only local Agri-science bodycarrying out vital testing for animal and planthealth. This is a key requirement for themaintenance of levels of public health andfood safety required by both the governmentand the EU.

It also delivers excellent scientific re-search tailored to Northern Ireland that isnot supported by any other body.

NIPSA wins improvements forstaff at Newtownards children’shome.

NIPSA rep Geraldine Mullan ex-plained that the Trust had failed toaddress the union’s concerns re-garding serious health and safetyimplications for members employedat the William Street children’shome.

“Instead, the South Eastern Trustcontinued to impose working condi-tions that were in direct contradic-tion of working time regulations andlegislation.

“This outcome has been a longtime coming and we know will havesignificant repercussions for all

those who currently work sleep-inshifts.

“As a result of the settlementreached these members and theircolleagues within William StreetChildren’s Home now experience amuch improved work life balance.

“With the implementation of newrotas that are compliant with legis-lation, members are appropriatelypaid and more importantly are lessstressed and healthier.”

Geraldine added: “The fourcourageous members involved inthis case have paved the way forothers and it is imperative now thatNIPSA achieve this for all membersacross Northern Ireland.”

Page 4 NEWS

MAJOR HIGH STCHAINS AVOIDCOMMITMENT TO LIVING WAGE

Concerned AFBIstaff facing uncertain future

RETAILERS have come under fire after in-vestigations revealed that not a singlehigh street retail chain has guaranteedstaff the living wage.

Earlier in March National Express becamethe first transport company to become an ac-credited UK-wide living-wage employer, join-ing 1,200 firms in paying the independentlyset hourly rate of £7.85, or £9.15 in London.The wage is linked to the cost of living and isset with the aim of ensuring a decent mini-mum standard of living.

Retailers are conspicuous by their absencefrom the list, with even “ethically” brandedchains such as John Lewis and the Co-oper-ative not signed up.

Citizens UK, the charity that launched theliving wage campaign and set up the LivingWage Foundation, said retailers employedthe biggest group of low-paid staff andneeded to consider their social responsibili-ties.

Neil Jameson, director of Citizens UK,said: “Not a single high street retailer was ac-credited as a Living Wage employer, despiteposting huge profits, whilst we, the taxpay-ers, help top up the wages of their low-paidstaff through in-work tax credits. It’s a per-verse situation when a supermarket worker,despite having a staff discount, can’t afford toshop in the store they work in because ofpoverty pay, and a full-time member of staffrelies on benefits to make ends meet.”

Some smaller retailers have signed up,and Lush, the cosmetics retailer, pays theLondon living wage in the capital, althoughoutside only guarantees to pay 50p an hourmore than the minimum wage.

Thumbs up for union’s efforts Since starting thenew rota I feel thatI have my life back.It’s fantastic!Nadine McShane-Smyth – SocialWorker

It has been a long and arduous journey which has necessitateda high level of fortitude over several years. We would like tothank our colleagues for their support, John and Brian for theirlegal guidance and our NIPSA representative Geraldine Mullanfor her tireless work and unwavering commitment throughoutthe process. Damien Looney – Social Worker

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Geraldine Mullan (left) picturedwith the William Street home staff

NIPSA met with DHSSPS Permanent Sec-retary Richard Pengelly on February 5 to re-inforce the need for engagement with TUSover the admin review.The meeting follows the issuing of the re-view’s terms of reference as previously re-ported in NIPSA News.The It admin review will:l Scope the activities carried out by the de-partment and its Arms Length Bodies(ALBs) in support of the delivery of healthand social care;l Determine whether these activities arebeing carried out by organisations in accor-dance with the roles and responsibilities setout in the Framework Document;l Identify any areas of duplication in the ac-tivities carried out;l Identify opportunities for more efficientand effective delivery of services;l Explore opportunities for benchmarking

against other organisations; andl Identify opportunities for enhanced collab-oration and co-operation across the wholesystem.At the February 5 meeting, NIPSA AssistantSecretary Kevin McCabe asked Mr Pengellyto answer a number of questions:Who is conducting the review? DHSSPS– Officials (Project Manager egc) but underthe specific instruction of the PermanentSecretary.Is there any private sector involvement?No.Are current structures under threat, ieRPA Phase II bodies: HSCB, BSO, PHA,PCC?No.How many bodies are affected?17 Arms Length organisations includingTrusts.What work is currently being undertaken

at present?A scoping exercise.What is the purpose of the scoping exer-cise?To look at current operational working andto examine if there is duplication and/or effi-ciencies that can be made.What is the timeline?To conclude as quickly as feasible and to in-form 2015/16 financial planning cycle.Kevin McCabe told NIPSA News: “We willcontinue to press the Department on theseissues. We made the point that there is acorrelation, in our view, to this exercise andevidence now emerging that Arms LengthBodies (ALBs) are being asked to offer upand project 5%, 10% and 15% budget sav-ings and the real risk of job losses and serv-ice delivery seriously compromised.”

NIPSA meets DHSSPSchief over admin review

Page 5NEWS

www.facebook.com/nipsaunion

@nipsa

‘The politics of economics’

TRADE unions rely upon anactive and committed range ofemployed and lay activists. Trademark courses are de-signed to reconnect those ac-tivists to trade unionfundamentals in the context of

an economy in crisis.Their range of accredited andun-accredited courses ad-dresses the difference betweenorthodox ‘economics’ as un-derstood in the mainstream,and a ‘political economy’ ap-

proach as a tool for under-standing how modern soci-eties work.Pictured (below) are NIPSAmembers with Trademarkcourse tutors Dr StephenNolan and Mel Corry.

A UNIVERSITY of Ulster study has foundthat the mental health of around 213,000adults has been affected by the Trou-bles, nearly half of severe mental healthcases in NI.

The trans-generational study which wascarried out for the Commission for Victims

and Survivors also highlighted a legacy ofthe Troubles in suicidal behaviour. It made12 recommendations in order to addressthe issues raised in their report –http://www.u.tv/News/2015/03/05/Trou-bles-link-to-almost-half-of-mental-health-cases-32912

Troubles linked to almosthalf of mental health cases

Page 6 NEWS

Empowering womenand fighting inequality

A TOTAL of 150 delegates fromNorth, South, East and Westgathered in Belfast for the Con-gress Joint Women’s Commit-tee seminar held during theweek of International Women’sDay.

Addressing the seminar onMarch 5 in his last public engage-ment as General Secretary ofCongress, David Begg said: “In-equality has worsened since thecrash and our politics have beentorn between the competing ex-pectations of markets and citi-zens. Markets demand higherprofits and bonuses for the richwhile requiring lower wages, pre-carious work and minimal secu-rity for all others.

“In Ireland, we see mouth-wa-tering levels of pay for a minorityat the top while half of all wage-earners take home less than€28,500 a year.

“We need a new model of so-cial investment to defeat and miti-gate social risk, across Europe inorder to equip welfare states torespond adequately to modernkinds of social risk. This requiresan adequate tax base but debtservicing is now a huge drag ontax revenue.

“The feminisation of the labourmarket now requires differentkinds of risks to be taken onboard. Family formation is differ-ent. Caring needs are different.These have to be provided for ifpeople – male and female – areto be able to participate in thelabour market and achieve theirfull potential.

“In a nutshell, it is about turningvicious circles of poverty and un-employment into virtuous circlesof a strong economy, good publicservices, high taxes and full em-ployment.”

Referring to InternationalWomen’s Day on March 8, hesaid: “That is what I alwayswanted – for women to be equalin a way that gives every personthe opportunity to be fulfilled, tohave children and yet have thefreedom to obtain your owndreams, whatever they might be.”

Mr Begg told the seminar thatthe recovery in the Irish economywas still fragile and that “a newgrand bargain” was needed for

Europe.“Austerity combined with reform

was never a good choice to offerEurope. Growth has to be part ofthe deal. A new grand bargain isneeded in which the Europeaneconomy is stimulated, both byfiscal and monetary means.

“For the bargain to work every-body has to see that they benefit.A strong commitment to arrestingthe rise in inequality through so-cial investment is a necessaryfirst step in constructing the newgrand bargain.

“This is the only way the Euro-pean integration project, the mostambitious political experiment inhistory, can be saved.”

Speaking at a workshop on theparticipation of women in publicand political life, Bronagh Hinds,from DemocraShe, described thecontinued under-representationof women in public and politicallife as “a source of huge con-cern”.

She told the seminar: “20 yearsafter the Beijing Platform for Ac-tion, achieving gender equality inpublic and political life is still along way off.

“In Northern Ireland, the num-ber of women holding public ap-pointments in 1998 stood at 35%.In 2011/12, the figure was 33%.Northern Ireland has the mostmale dominated political andpower structures in the UnitedKingdom with only 19.4% ofMembers of the Legislative As-sembly (MLAs) are women.”

The workshop explained thebarriers which prevent womenfrom achieving gender equality inrelation to public and political lifeand called on the Assembly torecognise the lack of representa-tion in politics and public life; tofurther recognise the positive out-comes that result in tackling thisinequality and the urgent need tointroduce a training and supportprogramme to encourage morefemale candidates to stand forelection to address this inequality.

Following on from Bronagh’scontribution, delegates heardfrom Eileen Denning, of the Scot-tish TUC’s Women’s Committee,about their 50/50 campaign.

She told seminar participantsthat the campaign focused on theneed for equal representation inthe new Scottish Parliament.

“Linking up with other civicgroups and with cross-party sup-port the new Parliament con-vened in 1999 with over 37% ofthe 129 MSP’s being female.

“It’s worth remembering thatsome political parties were betterthan others when it came to theselection of female candidates in

safe seats.“In 2003, this rose to 39%.

While subsequent parliamentshave seen a drop in those num-bers, women recognise that weneed to continue to organise,support each other and encour-age others and argue for the in-troduction of special measureswhen necessary, with the goal of50/50 still central.

“That demand of 50/50 repre-sentation includes recognition ofwomen’s lives in all our diversity,and therefore must also includesteps to better represent womenfrom all communities.

“We recognise, however, thatpublic life is not restricted toelected positions. Our campaignis looking at how we can encour-age women in communities tocome together and make theirvoices heard, how we can in-crease the current – and poor –representation of women on pub-lic boards and how we can im-prove the positon of women inthe trade union movement.

“Nevertheless, what is clearlymissing from this debate is notjust the numbers game but howwe achieve representation ofwomen from ALL walks of life andthe experience they bring.”

Ms Denning pointed out thatmany women had used their po-sitions to “actively improve thelives of women” but added thatmany others had not.

She asked: “So what is thepoint of appointing/electing/in-creasing women into positions ofpower if they choose not to use[these roles] for the benefit of oth-ers?”

Ms Denning added: “I don’tknow of a single cleaner, cook,admin assistant, shop or child-

care worker who currently sits ona public board in Scotland. Whyis that?

“They have as much to offer tohave the high-flying profession-als.

She went on to say: “Women’slives matter. Our society would bea poorer place without their con-tribution. Not just in the work-place but in recognition of theunpaid caring work they do.

“That their position in our soci-ety is considerably less than itshould be is not acceptable in2015. Must do better.”

The final session, held on theFriday morning of the seminar,dealt with gender-based violence.

Annie Campbell, Director ofWomen’s Aid Federation North-ern Ireland, spoke about theprevalence of domestic violenceincidents and crimes in NorthernIreland with one incident reportedevery 19 minutes.

She pointed out that there wereseven murders with a domesticabuse motivation recorded in2013/14 and that there had been27,628 incidents recorded for2013/14 – the highest level since2004/2005.

She said: “There is a seriousneed to tackle gender-based vio-lence in Northern Ireland. Theausterity measures are disman-tling a lot of excellent work beingdone to core, life-saving services.

“And while we can all be justlyproud of how far we have comeon the work to end violenceagainst women and girls (VAWG),there are fundamental blocks tomoving that work forward and areal threat that the prevention,protection and support of victimsof VAWG could be at seriousrisk.”

REPORT: CongressJoint Women’s Com-mittee Seminar, March5 & 6 By GeraldineAlexander, NIPSA Assistant Secretary

NIPSA members and delegates to ICTU’s Women’sCommittee Seminar in Belfast.

Page 7NEWS

Women – bearing thebrunt of fighting back?MUCH has been said in recentmonths and weeks about cutsto public sector jobs and serv-ices and as InternationalWomen’s Day draws to a closefor another year, we need toask and keep on asking thequestion: what does austeritymean for women in society?

The Autumn Statement, whichwas soon followed by the Stor-mont House Agreement, signalledone clear intent – and that intentwas the continuation of austerityfor years to come.

The Office of Budget Responsi-bility has estimated that there willbe around £23 billion of cutsmade by the end of the next par-liament and public spending onpublic services will reach all-time,post-war lows.

The Fawcett Society’s recentresearch shows that a staggering74% of so-called ‘austerity sav-ings’ have come out of women’spockets in the name of cuts topublic spending.

Figures in excess of 20,000have been quoted at a local levelin relation to public sector jobcuts and, irrespective of the ac-tual figure that transpires, whathasn’t been the subject of discus-sion is that almost two-thirds ofpublic sector employees arewomen, meaning that these jobcuts will certainly have a dispro-portionate effect on women over-all.

If women are expected to movefrom public sector employment toprivate sector employment, whatneeds to be recognised is thatwomen in the private sector earn20% less than men. The weaker

terms and conditions that prevailin the private sector due to lowlevels of unionisation also meanthat many women will find it moredifficult to balance their caring re-sponsibilities and working lives.

The increasing trend towardscasualised labour and zero-hourcontracts under which morewomen are employed bring abouta patchwork of irregular hoursand earnings. This, in turn, bringsabout an incredible sense of inse-curity for women who need toplan childcare responsibilities andhome life.

It is true that more women thanever are in employment, but weneed to ask at what cost andgiven the gender pay gap for thefirst time in decades has startedto increase in real terms, womenare now faced with a new type of‘glass ceiling’, which can onlycome down if these types of pre-carious contracts are bannedonce and for all.

Women are the highest usersof public services including bene-fits and when Welfare Reformwas introduced in England, it sawwomen bear the brunt of thesecuts to the tune of 75%. Thethree-year freeze on the once-universal child benefit, has alsoremoved a staggering £3.5 billionfrom not only the economy, butfrom women’s pockets.

Women’s services and thosethat come under the umbrella of‘community services’ have al-ready felt the impact of the cuts

and despite that fact that many ofthese services, including child-care services, care for the elderly,Surestart services, sexual healthand reproductive services deliverto the very heart of community,they are considered on the pe-riphery from a budgetry perspec-tive and are more vulnerable tothe swingeing axe of budget cuts.

As state services are cut, re-moved and decimated, it is ofcourse women in the main whoare left to fill the gaps. Women,though not exclusively, do makeup the majority of the caring pop-ulation for both children and de-pendant adults. As we seeservices withdrawn, it will bewomen and families left to pick upthe pieces and may indeed beforced wholly or partially out ofthe labour market to fulfil thisneed.

The phrase ‘economically inac-tive’ is also a term that has creptinto governmental speak. It isused in policy and consultationdocuments to describe peoplewho are not in education or em-ployed and stay at home eitherbecause they chose to or areforced to.

The trouble is, many of theseso-called ‘economically inactive’people are women and carry outa function which enables theeconomy to keep on turning andsociety to exist. That function is,of course, the unpaid labour ofrunning the household and look-ing after children and dependantadults in very many cases.

Unpaid carers and women whostay at home also, of course, en-able others to enter the labour

market and remain there. Itwould be interesting to see ifthese so called ‘economically in-active’ withdrew that labour forone week alone, where societywould be – we’re guessingground to halt, so the mere sug-gestion that these women aresomehow ‘inactive’ is insultingand degrading and it shouldn’t beused to categorise and describethem.

Trade unions have for a verylong time been making the caseagainst austerity, not simply in theinterests of its workers, but in theinterests of women, families andsociety.

Female membership in tradeunions remains strong and fe-male union density has held upwell across many union sectors.Women are also radicalising andbecoming more militant in theirtrade unions and those unionsectors that have higher concen-trations of female membershiphave shown that despite hardtimes, they are more willing totake industrial action in defenceof pay, terms and conditions aswell as against the cuts.

Trade unions have continuallypushed the equality agenda andwon many of the real equality bat-tles and must continue to do so.They are one of the few organisa-tions that can take on this collec-tive struggle and in order to bestrong trade unions need women.

So when the question is asked,‘Why should women be involvedin trade unions?’, it is entirely thewrong emphasis, the questionshould be ‘Why wouldn’t womenbe involved in trade unions?’

By Naomi Connor

NIPSAmembersand officialscelebrateInterna-tional Women’sDay inBelfast

BRITISH workers gave theirbosses nearly £32 bllion in un-paid overtime last year — anaverage of more than £6,000each.

The staggering sum is revealedin analysis published by the TUCtoday to mark Work Your ProperHours Day.

February 27 was the point thisyear when the average persondoing unpaid overtime would startgetting paid if they worked all

their unpaid hours at the start ofthe year — equivalent to 12weeks’ full-time work.

To mark the day the TUC calledon workers to take a proper lunchbreak and leave on time.

The analysis shows that morethan five million people work anaverage of 7.7 unpaid hours aweek.

The most “free” hours perworker are in education (9.7 perweek), hospitality industry (9.3),

mining and quarrying (9.2), fi-nance (8.7) and scientific andtechnical (8.4).

TUC general secretary FrancesO’Grady said: “Staff acrossBritain are continuing to workamong the longest hours in Eu-rope and are not even paid formuch of the extra time they putin.

“Millions of workers go the extramile every week, boosting theprofits of companies across the

country while they lose out onthousands of pounds from theirpay packets. And this is on top ofthe fact that one in five jobs al-ready pays under the livingwage.”

The study showed that in theworst-affected sector, education,37.6 per cent of employees workunpaid overtime of 9.7 hours aweek.

SETTING out an attempt to “reclaim theagenda”, he said that the trade unionmovement had to re-find the confidence toask “the big questions… who runs soci-ety?... and in whose interests should it berun?”

He said: “In arguing for an economy wherethe workplace and its products are shapeddemocratically and serve the needs of societyas a whole, what we are fighting for is a trulyrepresentative democracy. The contrast withwhat we are currently enduring couldn’t beclearer.”

Mr McVey cited what he called the “secretdeals, lack of detail and sleight of hand” seenin the Stormont Castle agreement when partyleaders agreed on cutting 20,000 to 30,000jobs across the public sector.

And he warned the audience of activistsgathered at NIPSA HQ against taking what theparty leaders said “on trust” and hit out at the“democratic deficit” at the heart of the Stor-mont House agreement.

He continued: “This democratic charadefeeds off a political culture that is hierarchical,secret, anti-democratic and shores up a ‘chief-tain’ view of politics where it’s all about ‘ourman’ – and it usually is a man – who will de-liver or can be trusted to deliver. If the widerparty structures it seems can be kept in thedark, the wider society obviously has nochance of knowing.”

Mr McVey said trade unions had to respondby taking a strategic view of strengthening itsmembership and organisation over time.

“This means a long-term investment in anorganising and recruitment strategy which ac-cepts that improvement is about more thanshort-term head counts. Only by building – re-building in some cases – and empoweringbranches for the long-term can we hope to de-velop the consciousness of the wider member-ship.”

Citing the recent upsurge of interest in poli-tics in Scotland during the referendum cam-paign, he pointed out that the electorate –especially young people – were far from being“switched off”. This he added showed how real

political engagement could frighten the West-minster establishment.

Mr McVey said it was important trade unionsset out a clear vision of the way forward with arejection of the privatisation model “which hasstolen from and failed us”.

He continued: “We argue for large-scale in-vestment in public services operated for soci-ety as a whole based on good workingconditions for the staff that run them.

“This is a virtual circle of an economy run byand for us rather than the daylight robbery ofour taxes over-paying private companies andleaving us at the mercy of unregulated and ex-tortionate rent, bills and fares that are used tofeed the greed of shareholders. “

Mr McVey said it was important that societyclamped down on tax avoidance, which he de-scribed as “the ultimate anti-social behaviour”

and cited a number of recent examples by in-ternational corporations and banks.

“The tax scandals merely reinforce the pointwe shouldn’t tire of making: the money isthere, austerity is not about money – it’s aboutideology.”

And it was vital that unions organise theircampaigns around “challenging, underminingand defeating” what he called the “value sys-tem” of capitalism.

“We have to stop looking at the world as it isnow and say this is somehow natural, the wayit always was and always has to be. The capi-talist system and its markets are human cre-ations – so they be can be overthrown byhumans whose needs it cannot meet.”

In order to challenge capitalism, it was notgood enough to have the correct argumentsyou also have to communicate this viewpointeffectively.

He said: “There is no point in being correctin our analysis if we are not in a position toshare this analysis with and develop it in asystematic manner amongst the next genera-tion of our own activists.

“The key word here is systematic. So we,not just NIPSA but NIC-ICTU and ICTU haveto think seriously about how we support theeducation of our activists in the long-term.”

He concluded by pointing out “despite all theobstacles, we’re still here”.

“The news from South America, Spain andGreece – however difficult the dilemmas theyface – and movements north and south fight-ing water privatisation show the labour move-ment is still capable of working in a similarlybroad alliance of the alienated, the discon-tented, the deprived and the dispossessed.

“We accept that this is about the long hauland its success is uncertain, but as the oldsaying goes, if you make the argument youmay lose – but if you don’t, you’ve alreadylost. So if we want an economy we own, a so-ciety we shape, it’s up to us!”

The document can be downloaded at:http://www.nipsa.org.uk/NIPSA-in-Action/Pol-icy-and-Research/An-Economy-We-Own-A-Society-We-Shape

The future is up tous, activists told“AUSTERITY is not about money – it’s about ideology.”

John McVey, of NIPSA Policy andResearch, made the comment dur-ing a wide-ranging speech at theMarch 5 launch of his latest re-search booklet, titled ‘An EconomyWe Own, a Society We Shape’.

JohnMcVey

Bosses grab £32bn in unpaid overtime

Page 8 ECONOMIC NEWS

A FULL cost-benefit analysis isneeded to assess the impact ofthe plan to shrink the publicsector in Northern Ireland –and ‘re-balance’ the economy –through a large-scale voluntaryredundancy scheme.

In his latest inBrief researchpaper, NERI economist PaulMacFlynn looked at the geo-graphic and gender breakdown inparticular and the impact such ameasure will have both onwomen in employment and onspecific localities.

And he argued that there are arange of impacts beyond any po-tential savings in salaries accru-

ing to the Executive in the longterm.

While accepting that the level ofemployment in the public sectorin Northern Ireland is higher thanother part of the UK, he claimsmost of this is due to “legacy andsecurity issues” as well as “disec-onomies of scales associatedwith governing such a small pop-ulation”.

Mr MacFlynn writes: “The fig-ures do not support the notionthat public sector employment is

crowding out the private sector,rather that there is a structuralweakness within the Northern Ire-land private sector.”

Key points highlighted in thepaper, titled ‘Public Sector Em-ployment in Northern Ireland’,are:l West Belfast, Foyle and WestTyrone have the largest concen-trations of public sector employ-ment in Northern Ireland.l Female employment in thepublic sector is 18% higher thanmale employment.

Pointing out that there is nogender pay gap within the publicsector in Northern Ireland, Mr

MacFlynn warned the voluntaryredundancy scheme could widenthe gender pay gap across North-ern Ireland as well as have a dis-proportionate impact on certainNI regions.

He further claimed that no con-sideration had been given to thewider economic impact thescheme will have and writes:“When quantifying the impact of aredundancy scheme, reductionsin domestic demand and conse-quent reductions in private sectoremployment need to be consid-ered.”

To read the full report, go to:http://bit.ly/1GUqsC8

THE “smoke and mirrors” inand around the Spring Budgetaannounced by the Chancellorof the Exchequer bears little re-lation to the economic realitythat our members are currentlyexperiencing, said the union’sDeputy General Secretary.

Responding to the March 18Budget, Deputy General Secre-tary Alison Millar said Chancel-lor’s Osborne’s proposals willfurther affect our memberspockets should his forecast fora new round of £30 billion cutsby 2017/8 (£12 billion of whichwill come from the welfare sys-

tem) be fulfilled.Ms Millar commented: “Our

members and their families al-ready know what austerity andeconomic insecurity looks likein terms of increments denied;real terms pay cuts, pensionsand public services attacked.

“In addition we see the North-ern Ireland Executive’s destruc-tive economic “blueprint”outlined in the Stormont Castleand Stormont House Agree-ments.”

She added: “ While partiesmay now squabble about whatwas agreed and when, we can

only look at signed agreementto sacrifice 20-30,000 publicsector jobs, cut Corporation Taxand thus reduce further theblock grant from which we payfor public services.

“We can be proud that we,along with other trade unions,unlike the Westminster andStormont governments believethere is “such a thing as soci-ety”, that public services arethe spine of that society andthat we must, as we did onMarch 13, fight to defend them”.

CHANCELLOR George Os-borne’s “making work pay”mantra was shattered yester-day by stats that show work-ers across swathes of Britainearn less than the livingwage.

One in five jobs in Britainpays less than needed to coverbasic living costs, an analysisof official figures by House ofCommons research for theTUC reveals.

But it also shows that insome areas more than half ofworking people are paid lessthan the living wage.

Birmingham Northfield topsthe list of Britain’s poverty payblackspots with 53.4 per cent ofpeople working there earningless than £7.85 an hour, fol-lowed by Kingswood near Bris-tol (51 per cent) and DwyforMeirionnydd in north Wales(50.9 per cent).

For women the figures areeven worse, with more than 60per cent paid less than the liv-ing wage in worst-hit areas.

TUC general secretaryFrances O’Grady said the fig-ures prove Mr Osborne’s payclaims are “completely out oftouch with reality.”

“Extending the living wage isa vital step towards tackling thegrowing problem of in-workpoverty across Britain,” shesaid.

“Working families have expe-rienced the biggest squeeze ontheir living standards since Vic-torian times, and these livingwage figures show that womenare disproportionately affected.”

The figures were revealed aspart of the TUC’s Fair Pay Fort-night, which rran until March 1.

By Paul MacFlynn

NERI paper examines NIredundancy scheme impact

One in five jobspays less thanliving wage

Con-Dems ‘smokeand mirrors’ Budget

New round ofcuts proposedby ChancellorOsborne willhave a dramaticeffect on NIPSAmembers

Page 9ECONOMIC NEWS

Page 10 MARCH 13 STRIKE PICTURESNIC-ICTU-orga held at Belfast, Newry, Straban niskillen, Coler Cookstown, Du Craigavon. Her pictures from a of our memberMore can be fo Facebook page book.com/nips

Page 11 MARCH 13 STRIKE PICTURESnised rallies were

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Page 12 MARCH 13 STRIKE PICTURES

Page 13 MARCH 13 STRIKE PICTURES

Abbey Insurance take over asmembership services provider

Page 14 ADVERTORIAL

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ABBEY Insurance took over as NIPSA’s offi-cial provider for membership services insur-ance products, with effect from March 1,2015.

Abbey is a locally-owned company with anetwork of offices as well as online and tele-phone line contact points. There is also alink from the NIPSA website(www.nipsa.org.uk) to Abbey.

The union is in ongoing discussions withAbbey on both the range of insurance prod-ucts available and how best to build on thenew relationship.

Speaking about the new link up with theunion, John McMichael, from Abbey Insur-ance, told NIPSA News: “As the province’slargest locally-owned insurance brokers, wehave a lot of synergy with NIPSA and lookforward to working closely with them overthe next number of years.

“We now have 15 branches across North-ern Ireland, so NIPSA members can be as-sured that we are always close by, whereverthey are, to talk through the best insuranceoptions for them at the best possible price.”

The link up with Abbey will see NIPSAmembers and their families being able toavail of greatly-reduced car, home and travelinsurance from Northern Ireland’s largest lo-cally-owned insurance brokers.

The deal will benefit some 45,000 NIPSAmembers and their families across theprovince.

Assistant General Secretary Bumper Gra-ham said: “We are delighted that as a resultof this contract, our members will be able tosave more than £2 million every year. At atime when we all have to tighten our beltsunder the austerity measures, these are sig-nificant reductions and will help our mem-bers across the board.

“We are continually working to add to ourmember benefits and membership services,and this is another example of the leverageof being a part of a trade union.”

The services are available to NIPSA mem-bers and their families plus the members ofthe NIPSA Retired Members’ Group andNIPSA Headquarters Staff.

To avail of Abbey’s services, NIPSA mem-bers should quote their membership num-ber (your membership details are on thereverse of the NIPSA Membership Pluscard). Alternatively you can contact theMembership Section to obtain your NIPSAmembership number, email:membership@nipsa.org.uk

Members can contact Abbey either onlineor by telephone at 0800 665544 or by callinginto one of Abbey’s 15 branches throughoutNorthern Ireland.

‘We are delighted that asa result of this contract,

our members will be able to save more than £2 million every year’

Teaming up: John McMichael from Abbey Insurance and Bumper Graham

Page 15NEWS

NIPSA LGB&T toolkit toempower branch reps

THE official launch of the NIPSA LGB&Ttoolkit took place on February 26 in theWellington Park Hotel, Belfast.

Opening the event, NIPSA Deputy Gen-eral Secretary Alison Millar dubbed it “an-other historic event” in the NIPSA LGB&Tcalendar.

She congratulated the group on producingan “excellent and comprehensive” toolkitwhich she pointed out would empowerNIPSA representatives to deal effectivelywith LGB&T issues at branch level as wellas enhance negotiations on workplace poli-cies affecting LGB&T members.

The first keynote speaker, Gavin Boyd, ofThe Rainbow Project, focused on how em-ployers should develop policies and proce-dures for effectively combatting homophobicand transphobic bullying and harassment inthe workplace.

Using real-life examples as case studiesas well as statistical information drawn fromemployment research carried out by TheRainbow Project, participants were givenopportunities to discuss how homophobicand transphobic bullying can be manifestedin workplaces and how employers shouldrespond to complaints of bullying from staff.

The family workshop highlighted to partici-pants the challenges that some parentsface when their child comes out as LGBTand the support services available to themincluding peer support from other parentswith similar experiences.

The session also highlighted some of thebarriers to same-sex couples founding fami-lies, particularly the fact that although theCourt of Appeal has ordered that same-sexcouples may apply to adopt a child, the De-partment of Health has not issued guidanceto adoption providers to this effect.

The health and wellbeing session reliedon statistical data gathered by The Rainbow

Project for their mental health report‘Through Our Minds’ as well as the group’sreport, titled ‘All Partied Out’, into drug andalcohol use.

Data from these reports were used to out-line the severe and wide-ranging mental,physical and sexual health inequalities ex-perienced by LGB&T populations.

The data was also used to demonstratethe fact that the poorer mental health out-comes as well as the higher rates of risk-taking behaviours are evident in LGB&Tpeople because of the isolation they experi-ence due to societal homophobia and trans-phobia.

Simon Stewart, from SAIL (Support Ac-ceptance Information and Learning), alsospoke at the event. He focused on basicawareness of Trans issues, language andthe medical framework in relation to a par-

ent or carer supporting a Trans child. Looking at the often difficult social situa-

tions supportive parents of Trans childrenface, the presentation allowed the atten-dees to consider how Trans issues can af-fect a workplace and individual staffmembers, given the often-negative stereo-types and ideas that surround uninformeddiscussions of Trans.

In the afternoon session, SAIL broughttheir widespread experience of staff trainingacross Northern Ireland in relation to genderidentity. Simon addressed the issues thatoften come to the fore in a workplace wherea staff member starts their process of transi-tion and challenged some of the myths andmisunderstandings employees hold when acolleague transitions.

The final session was delivered by theChairperson of the NIPSA LGB&T Group,Daire Toner, who examined the Yogyakartaprinciples on the application of internationalhuman rights law in relation to sexual orien-tation and gender identity.

In his concluding remarks, he said: “Thiscomprehensive toolkit will empower ourbranch reps to effectively resolve workplaceissues based on sexual orientation or gen-der identity at the same time enable positivechange to workplace culture on LGB&Tmatters.

“A useful information and training tool, thistoolkit is the first step of many, by theNIPSA LGB&T Group, towards the realisa-tion of full social, economic, political andcultural rights.”

A link to an e-version of the toolkit hasbeen sent to all branch reps, includingEquality Officers, and is available to down-load from the NIPSA website at:http://www.nipsa.org.uk/NIPSA-in-Action/LGBT/Branch-Representatives-Toolkit

NIPSA LGB&T members and branch reps with the new toolkit.

NIPSA’s Deputy General Secretary Alison Millar speaking at the launch

Page 16 NEWS

Holocaust Memorial Day – it’svital to keep the memory alive

ARE YOU thinking of buyingor selling a property? Springand early summer are wellknown to be the busiest sea-sons of the year for residen-tial conveyancingtransactions and you are nodoubt already beginning tonotice higher numbers of ‘ForSale’ signs dotted along thestreets and decorating frontgardens across the province.

Once the dark winterevenings begin to lift we tend tohave more energy and motiva-tion to think about selling and/orbuying a property.

Spring always proves to be avery busy time of year for ven-dors preparing their propertiesfor sale and indeed potentialpurchasers scouring PropertyNews and estate agent win-dows, keen to find their dreamhome.

In turn this activity keeps theestate agents and solicitors ontheir toes too.

The traditional winter lullcame to an abrupt end in De-cember 2014 when the Chan-cellor announced the verysignificant Stamp Dutychanges.

The new Stamp Duty ratesare outlined as follows:l nothing on the first £125,000of the property price;l 2% on the next £125,000;l 5% on the next £675,000;l 10% on the next £575,000;andl 12% on the rest (above £1.5million).

Example: If you buy a propertyfor £275,000, you’ll pay £3,750of SDLT. This is made up of:l nothing on the first £125,000;l £2,500 on the next £125,000;and

l £1,250 on the remaining£25,000.

The changes have had an im-mediate impact on the marketas would-be buyers are begin-ning to realise that they can in-

crease their budgets. The RoyalInstitute of Chartered Surveyorshas predicted that 2015 houseprices will be bolstered by therecent Stamp Duty changesand the continuing demand forproperties.

Northern Ireland is also theonly UK region to see mortgagegrowth in the last few months of2014. There has been an in-crease in the number and valueof mortgages for first-time buy-ers, people who are selling andbuying a property and thosewho want to re-mortgage theirproperty.

Northern Ireland saw a total of20,200 property purchases in2014, the highest number oftransactions in seven years,and recent reports have evensuggested the return of, darewe say it, “the bidding war”!

All of these factors are doingwonders for increasing our con-fidence in the property market.Who knows, maybe that dreamhouse you keep looking at onProperty News isn’t so far out ofreach after all.

If you are considering selling,re-mortgaging or buying a prop-erty and would like some adviceon the processes and likelycosts involved, please feel freeto contact McCartan Turking-ton Breen on 02890 329801 /legal@mtb-law.co.uk

We offer a discount on ourprofessional fees for all NIPSAmembers and would be only toohappy to offer our advice andassistance to you.

Chancery House, 88 Victoria Street, Belfast BT1 3GNTel: 029 9032 9801 www.mtb-law.co.uk

By Marie-AnneMcVeigh

Spring into the housing market

EACH year on January 27 the world marks Holocaust MemorialDay. It was on this day in 1945 that the largest Nazi extermina-tion camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, was liberated.

The Holocaust Memorial Day Trust campaigns to commemoratethis date and to remember and learn from subsequent genocidesaround the world. This year the message of Holocaust MemorialDay 2015 was “Keep the memory alive”.

I am a NIPSA member. I am Jewish.I was thrilled to receive an invitation from NIPSA to attend the

Holocaust Memorial Service on the January 27. There are still Jew-ish personnel within the NICS and it is nice to see the support of ourunion in such events.

This is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz wheremore than a million Jews and countless others were brutally mur-dered. More than six million Jewsdied in camps like Auschwitzthroughout the war.

Growing up in a Jewish community, we were educated in theatrocities of oppression and the attempt to annihilate the Jewishpeople.

We still see this hatred in people today, not only towards theJews, but one faction, one religion against another. Holy wars in thename of the “One True G-D”.

While the world still tries to fight against guns and bombs with

words, condemnation and sanctions, it is our actions that make thereal difference.

Just one person standing up for what is right, one person to take astand, to join with others throughout the world doing the same.

One person choosing to attend a memorial service for a race ofpeople who may have been wiped out of existence 70 years ago.

We must never forget, we must continue to teach our children andto stand up for the oppressed and for justice.

Mitchel Freedman writing in a personal capacity

Page 17BOOKS

YOU may remember the case of Jody McIntyre,pulled from his wheelchair by police during thestudent fee demonstrations of 2010. A hundredyears before, almost to the day, and barely astone’s throw from the same place, they yankedRosa May Billinghurst, agitating for female suf-frage, from her wheelchair and pulled her into aside street, taking the valves from the wheelsand pocketing them so she wouldn’t be able touse the chair again even if she was helped backinto it.

We learn this from David Rosenberg’s informativeand well-judged book about the history of protest inthe capital. I make no apology for beingLondon-centric this week, for that iswhere the sharpest divides betweenwealth and poverty have always beenconcentrated; however, I see no reasonwhy Pluto shouldn’t commission similarbooks about other British cities (I sus-pect Manchester would prove fruitful).

The idea is simple: a chapter on aparticular historic struggle between theexploiters and the exploited, or the es-tablishment and dissenters, followed bya map and a route for a walk in thecourse of which you can pay your owntributes to the heroes of the past,whether they were individuals likeBillinghurst, or collectives such as theUnion of Women Match Workers, strug-gling in the 1880s for better pay andconditions at Bryant and May (who, asQuakers and Liberals, considered themselves en-lightened employers): four shillings a week for a 12-hour day and a six-day week, subject to deductionsfor, among other things, having dirty feet.

These were times when the labour movement hadto start from scratch and against formidable opposi-tion. Sometimes the odds stacked against them,and their courage in fighting for their rights beggarsbelief. Think of mixed-race William Cuffay, underfive feet tall, born with deformed spine and shins,

“who rose to the interim presidency of the Chartistsduring their most active phase” in the mid-19th cen-tury.

There is so much that is inspirational in this book,whether the struggles of Jewish tailors in Spital-fields, bakers across the city (who were obliged towork 16-hour shifts in poorly ventilated basements),or the battles against fascism in Cable Street.

Rosenberg casts an interesting light on the influ-ence of Jewish immigrants, whether in the form oftheir sedition as workers, or their exploitation aslandlords or factory-owners; rabbinical evasionsagainst addressing exploitation are also addressed,

although I do wish he hadn’t made adreadful prophets/profits pun, which youcan groan at for yourselves on page 87.

Even the Bloomsbury group is given anod, and it is to Rosenberg’s credit thathe does not sneer at Virginia Woolf,Bertrand Russell and co for being well-heeled, even if, quite understandably, hecan’t resist quoting Dorothy Parker’s linethat the group “paints in circles, lives insquares and loves in triangles”.

I wondered if the idea of pegging thisbook around walks was a little insub-stantial; more of an excuse than any-thing else. Would anyone actually go onsuch a walk? For one thing, London isbecoming such a depressingly pluto-cratic city, and in a dark mood you couldbe forgiven for thinking there is a politi-cal will to demolish any features or land-

marks that attest otherwise. But such walks haveboth historical aura and spiritual value, as pilgrim-age and homage. There is also the hovering worrythat it would be best to see such places soon, be-fore someone builds a ghastly new office block overthem.nTo order Rebel Footprints for £8.79 (RRP £10.99)go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 3336846. Free UK p&p on online orders over £10. A£1.99 charge applies to telephone orders.

Rebel FootprintsMiddlemarchGeorge Eliot Features Dorothea Brooke,a young idealist whosesearch for intellectual ful-fillment leads her into adisastrous marriage to thepedantic scholarCasaubon; and the charm-ing but tactless Dr Ly-dgate, whose marriage tothe spendthrift beautyRosamund and pioneeringmedical methods threatento undermine his career.Moby-DickHerman Melville

Tells the mad, raging, Shake-spearean tale of CaptainAhab's insane quest to kill agiant white whale that hastaken his leg, and uponwhich he has swornvengeance, at any cost.

Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy Anna Karenina seems tohave everything - beauty,wealth, popularity and anadored son.But she feels that her lifeis empty until the momentshe encounters the im-petuous officer CountVronsky.Their subsequent affairscandalizes society andfamily alike, and soonbrings jealousy and bitter-ness in its wake.The Portrait of a LadyHenry James

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Page 18 WORLD AND EUROPEAN NEWS

Dunnes workersto strike in April

PATRICIA King,current vice-president ofIreland’sbiggest unionSIPTU, hasbeen ap-pointed gen-eral secretaryof the IrishCongress ofTrade Unions.

She takesover fromDavid Begg, who is retiring after14 years in the post, and is thefirst woman in the 121 years’ his-tory of the body to hold the topposition.

She joins a small number ofwomen across Europe leadingtheir national trade union confed-erations.

As well as Frances O’Grady atthe British TUC, they include theleaders of Italy’s two largestunion confederations, SusannaCamusso at CGIL and AnnamariaFurlan at CISL; Eva Nordmark,the head of Sweden’s non-manualconfederation TCO; and GerdKristiansen, head of Norway’slargest union confederation LO.

RELIEF workers reported“widespread devastation”and a “flattened” landscapeyesterday after landing on cy-clone-hit Vanuatu’s outlyingislands of Tanna and Erro-mango.

Radio and phone communica-tions with the outer islands arejust beginning to be restoredand remain patchy three daysafter Cyclone Pam hit the archi-pelago.

Australian military planes thatconducted aerial assessments

found significant damage, par-ticularly on Tanna, where it ap-peared that more than 80 percent of homes and other build-ings had been partially or com-pletely destroyed, ForeignMinister Julie Bishop reported.

“We understand that the re-connaissance imagery showswidespread devastation. Notonly buildings flattened — palmplantations, trees. It’s quite adevastating sight,” she said.

Teams of aid workers andgovernment officials carrying

medical and sanitation supplies,water, food and shelter equip-ment landed on Tanna and Er-romango yesterday afternoon,said Oxfam Vanuatu directorColin Collett van Rooyen.

The islands were directly inthe path of the 168mph stormwhich hit early on Saturday.

Tanna’s destruction was sig-nificantly worse than in the capi-tal of Port Vila, where thecyclone destroyed or damaged90 per cent of the buildings,said Care Australia spokesman

ISRAEL took a leap closer toglobal isolation as worldpowers and domestic oppo-nents expressed dismay atBenjamin Netanyahu’s re-election.

Isaac Herzog, the head of theZionist Union which came sec-ond in Tuesday’s vote with 24seats, ruled out joining anyLikud-led coalition, saying MrNetanyahu’s election campaign“touched on racism” and “de-stroyed a deep relationship withour allies in the world.

“The nation wants an extremeright-wing government. TheAmerican reaction is not at alleasy,” he said.

US President BarackObama’s relations with the Is-raeli prime minister were al-ready souring after MrNetanyahu’s decision to de-nounce detente with Iran to theUS Congress in a breach ofdiplomatic protocol.

The White House barely both-ered to hide its anger at the re-sult. Mr Obama did not phone

the Likud leader to offer hiscongratulations, as he had doneafter previous election wins.

A briefing by White Housepress secretary Josh Earneston Wednesday night said thepresident remained “absolutely”committed to a two-state solu-tion to the Israeli-Palestinianconflict, something Mr Ne-tanyahu explicitly rejected.

And he slammed the IsraeliPM’s “divisive” language inclaiming Israeli Arabs were vot-ing “in droves,” saying it marked

King takestop role at ICTU

MANDATE Trade Union’s DunnesStores National Disputes Commit-tee announced an initial one daystrike to take place on Thursday,April 2 with a review thereafter.

The Committee, which consists often Dunnes Stores workers, said theone day strike would go ahead in107 stores across the Republic ofIreland unless senior managementin the company agree to a meetingwith the workers through their tradeunion in order to discuss all of theissues in dispute.

Earlier Mandate Trade Union,which represents the majority of the10,000 workers in Dunnes Stores,announced that more than twothirds of their members had ballotedin favour of industrial action.

The Dunnes workers are now reit-erating their call for their employerto resolve this dispute as a matter ofurgency.

Bernie Wesley, a Dunnes Storesworker from Dundalk, said: “There isone group of people who can en-sure this strike doesn’t go aheadand that’s Dunnes Stores. All theyhave to do is agree to meet with usthrough our union and negotiate inrelation to all of the issues in dis-pute. We’re urging them strongly todo the right thing and prevent thisstrike.”

Vanuatu Cyclone: Ouislands totally flatten

Netanyahu’s Likud wins Israeli

QATAR should be stripped of the2022 World Cup in order to rec-tify the mistake of awardingthem the world's biggest singlesports event, outgoing FIFA Ex-ecutive Committee member TheoZwanziger said earlier thismonth.

Zwanziger, the former boss ofGermany's football association(DFB), said that could happen,however, only if a report into howthe World Cup was awarded offersdetails of specific wrongdoing.

"The best solution would be notto play in Qatar and to rectify thiswrong awarding," he told Bayern 2radio station.

"But that can only happen if thereport provides sufficient clues thatthe awarding broke FIFA ethicsrules," he sad.

FIFA has been plagued by awave of scandals and controversy,ranging from allegations of corrup-tion in the 2018/2022 World Cupbidding processes to a row over$25,000 watches given as gifts toexecutive committee members atthe World Cup in Brazil.

Former US attorney Michael Gar-cia who investigated the claims anddrafted a report, resigned in De-cember, saying he felt he was no

longer making progress and thatsoccer's governing body "lackedleadership."

His report has not been madepublic while a redacted version willbe published at an undiscloseddate.

Garcia resigned after a disagree-ment with Hans-Joachim Eckert,head of the ethics committee'sjudgment chamber, over the han-dling of his report.

"Qatar was not suitable to hostsuch a World Cup for a number ofreasons," Zwanziger, who stepsdown from FIFA in May, said, citingamong other the scorching deserttemperatures.

FIFA is expected to move thetournament to winter.

The energy-rich Gulf state hasalso been criticized over migrants'working conditions and protectionof their human rights as they buildthe multi-million dollar football sta-diums.

"One has to tell candidates (forWorld Cups) that sports, football,the clubs and FIFA, they all repre-sent values that we expect to beobserved," said Zwanziger.

(Reporting by KarolosGrohmann; editing

by Amlan Chakraborty)

AROUND 34,000 security staffworking in the North-RhineWestphalia region, which in-cludes Düsseldorf and Cologne,have won a pay increase of be-tween 7% and 8% over twoyears.

For those on the lowest grade— around 70% of the total — theincrease is 7.6% taking thehourly rate to €9.70. Even if cal-culated over 24 months, this rep-resents a significant increase inreal pay, as inflation is currentlyfalling in Germany — down 0.4%

in January 2015 on a year earlier.The Ver.di (Vereinte Dienstleis-

tungsgewerkschaft) union hasused its membership at the air-ports to push through higher in-creases across the industry andit called them out in a series ofwarning strikes at the end ofJanuary.

The settlement in North-RhineWestphalia has been followed bysettlements in Hamburg andBaden-Wurttemberg, whereagain security staff at airportstook industrial action.

Page 19WORLD AND EUROPEAN NEWS

Tom Perry.“The airport was badly dam-

aged, the hospital was badlydamaged but still functioning …there’s one doctor there at themoment. It’s obviously a prettytrying situation,” he said.

As we go to press the UN Of-fice for the Co-ordination of Hu-manitarian Affairs reported that11 people had been confirmeddead, including five on Tanna,lowering their earlier report of24.

an attempt to marginalise anethnic minority.

Mr Netanyahu is now seekingto build a coalition of the far-right with allies including NaftaliBennett’s Jewish Home andAvigdor Lieberman’s YisraelBeiteinu, groups that Commu-nist Party-led Hadash leaderAyman Odeh described as “fas-cist.”

Mr Lieberman called for Arabcritics of Israel to be “be-headed” during the electioncampaign.

The new Greek government ledby the left-wing Syriza party haspromised action to restore theminimum wage to its previouslevel and to revive collectivebargaining.

The labour minister Panos Sk-ourletis told the Greek parlia-ment earlier that the newgovernment planned to makemajor changes to the country’slabour law, reversing many ofthe measures which had beingintroduced to satisfy the termsof Greece’s bailout.

One striking change will berestoring the minimum wage tothe previous level of €751(£556) a month, which was cutby 22% to €586 (£434) a monthin 2012, and ending the 10%lower rate paid to those agedunder 25, which was introducedat the same time. (Minimumwages like other Greek wagesare paid 14 times a year, so thecurrent minimum per calendarmonth is €684 or £506.)

Other planned changes are tostrengthen collective bargain-ing. They include: • giving priority to industry-levelrather than company-level col-lective agreements. At presentcompany level deals can setworse terms than those agreedat industry level; l allowing industry-level agree-ments to be extended to all thecompanies in that industry.

As a result of changes intro-duced in 2011 the governmentcurrently has no right to do this;l ensuring that collectiveagreements continue to bevalid, even when the period theywere signed for has ended with-out replacement.

Under current law they lapseafter three months and employ-ees are only guaranteed legalminimum levels of pay and con-ditions; and l allowing unions to access thearbitration and mediation serv-ice OMED.

At present both sides mustagree before they can be calledin and employers often refuseto cooperate.

The government has indicatedthat restoration of the minimumwage will take time and willhave to be accompanied byother measures to strengthen fi-nances, particularly of smallbusinesses. However, it is al-ready drafting legislation on theother issues and has said it willact quickly to end the lower rateminimum wage paid to under-25s.

Syriza plansrestoration of minimumwage in Greece

Strip Qatar ofWorld Cup, saystop FIFA official

tlying ned

German security staff secure 7.6% rise elections

Major aid relief neededto help victims of Cyclone Pam which flattened the islands of Vanuatu

NIPSA has welcomed a report that uniquelyrecorded no informal or formal complaints ofbullying or harassmentin DETI during 2014.

Frank Cammock (pic-tured) , who is Depart-mental Secretary atDETI, credits this to theextensive industrial rela-tions work carried outboth at Local and Depart-mental level by TUS,DHR, management, DETI Harassment ContactOfficers and an Equal Opportunity Officer.

He told NIPSA News: “The Department andTUS also jointly developed the DETI Core Val-ues, which promote the treatment of staff with re-spect and honesty as well as the need to actpromptly where problems are required to be re-solved.

“In addition a pilot study on Stress Manage-ment in Insolvency Services championed by TUSand carried out by HSENI significantly impactedon bullying and harassment complaints and isnow being rolled out across the Department.”

Page 20 NEWS

Packed agendaset for SSA ADCTHERE will be a packed agenda at the2015 NIPSA Social Security Agency An-nual Delegate Conference to be held atLoughshore Hotel, Carrickfergus, onMonday, March 30.

The ramifications of the Welfare ReformBill and its subsequent impact on membersarising out of the Stormont House Agree-ment, will form the focus of a number of de-bates.

There is a motion demanding that the in-coming SSA Committee promotes the impor-tance of linking up with the widerNIPSA/NICS/ICTU campaigns in defendingpublic services.

Another motion flags up the fact that theWelfare Reform Bill is likely to pitchclaimants against staff because of the deeplyunpopular nature of the cuts to services.

A third motion calls for the provision oftraining and support in dealing with vulnera-ble or aggressive customers and ensuringthat unrealistic targets are not imposed onstaff.

Other motions up for discussion includemanaging attendance procedures, the cre-ation of new Business Partners in the Per-sonnel Division as well as members’ concernover the high number of written warnings forsickness absences.

There will also be debate on how bestNIPSA can defend members by looking atimproving organisation and membership

take-up, in particular the need to recruityoung people into the union in the SSA andto make them more active.

Staffing resources is a regular focus of de-bate at ADC and there is a motion condemn-ing the recent Stormont House Agreementthat has slashed Departmental budgets re-sulting in the cutting of 650 posts in the SSA.

The need for improving benefit uptake isalso highlighted in a motion to the confer-ence while another recognises the lowmorale among staff within the Agency as in-dicated by a recent Staff Attitude.

Another motion calls on the incoming SSACommittee to engage robustly to prevent anyfurther diminution of terms and conditions.

Finally, there is a motion which underlinesthe unique role played by NIPSA Branches13 and 65. These branches are comprised ofSSA staff but carry out work solely on behalfof the Department of Work and Pensions inGreat Britain.

Assistant Secretary Tony McMullan toldNIPSA News: “It is also anticipated that therewill be two keynote speakers to the confer-ence dealing with pertinent issues affectingmembers.

“All branches in the SSA are encouragedto send their full delegate representation tothe conference therefore ensuring that thedebate will be truly reflective of the concernsand wishes of members throughout SSA."

DETI records zero Equal Opportunity complaints during 2014

THIS year’s May Day marches and ralliesorganised by Northern Ireland Committeefor ICTU will be held on Saturday, May 2.

MAY DAY REMINDER